


railroad

by brandywine421



Series: Unfinished AUs of Flail (aka fail) [13]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 05:53:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5405444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He'd met the man when he was supervising his father's railroad expansion project.  Exiled for 'uncivilized debauchery' by his mother, he'd been tasked with finding suitable settlements for railway stations in the west.  Brookton had long been a mining town, a place for the locals to come to the market and massive general store for supplies so it was an easy choice.  His father had been pleased with his decision for one of the first times in his life.</p>
<p>The fact that Steve Rogers ran the local saloon and boarding house had absolutely nothing to do with the choice of building a station; but he had everything to do with why Tony stayed.</p>
<p>Brookton was unlike any other town he'd ever visited, where blacks and women ran businesses without the prejudice that nearly split the country in half, and even if neither of the two could vote; they still filled local government offices.  They had representatives for when they had to go outside the county limits for meetings but it was the kind of community Tony wanted to be a part of.</p>
<p>It was a life he hadn't known he wanted but Brookton, Steve, had become his home.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Part of a collection of abandoned, but not unloved, fics I will never finish.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	railroad

Natasha looked up from her book when the train slowed and the conductor mumbled something unintelligible into the speaker above her seat.  
  
She wasn't a fan of trains, but it was the fastest way for her to leave her last mark behind.  
  
She was finally tired of grifting for a living and she had enough of a nest egg to settle down.  
  
If James could find a life out here, she could find one, too.  She didn't choose this town just because of him, she had her own reasons.  Several of which involved warrants.  
  
"Is someone meeting you, Miss?"  
  
The speaker was short and amiable with a hesitant expression.  "No, I can make my own way."  
  
He nodded, tipping his hat.  "Of course, I was only inquiring because I wondered if you knew the directions to the boarding house."  
  
If she wasn't retired, he would be an easy con. "That is my destination.  I suppose you may escort me."  
  
He smiled kindly and offered his arm.  "I am Dr. Banner."  
  
"Ms. Romanov," she said.  It had been decades since she'd given her born name but she couldn't be ashamed of her heritage if she wanted to live a true life.  
  
"Charmed.  Hopefully you aren't a mail order bride about to get me into a duel," Dr. Banner said.  
  
She smiled darkly but like the man for joking instead of painful politeness.  "I am no man's bride.  I am very expensive."  
  
He laughed and steadied her down the narrow train steps to the platform.  
  
*-*-*-*-*  
  
Tony traced his fingers over Steve's hip and smiled when he shivered in his sleep.  He thumbed over the ragged scar on his side and slid close to kiss the back of his neck until he turned his face on the pillow.  
  
"Don't you have to go to work?"  
  
"Pepper's working today, you know she likes to make the investors angry."  
  
Steve hummed.  "Send Rhodey with her?"  
  
Tony nodded.  "That drives them even crazier.  It's nice being rich and important.  You, however, are neither and you have customers."  
  
It took Steve a moment to process and he sat up.  "What time is it?"  
  
"Bucky and Sam are cleaning the rooms and Thor's working the desk, you've got two new guests," Tony said.  
  
"Thor doesn't speak English," Steve replied blankly.  
  
"I know, it was quite amusing.  Wash up, I ordered everyone around for you already," he said, appreciating the view as Steve scrambled to the washroom.  He was so cute when he was frazzled.  
  
He'd met the man when he was supervising his father's railroad expansion project.  Exiled for 'uncivilized debauchery' by his mother, he'd been tasked with finding suitable settlements for railway stations in the west.  Brookton had long been a mining town, a place for the locals to come to the market and massive general store for supplies so it was an easy choice.  His father had been pleased with his decision for one of the first times in his life.  
  
The fact that Steve Rogers ran the local saloon and boarding house had absolutely nothing to do with the choice of building a station; but he had everything to do with why Tony stayed.  
  
Brookton was unlike any other town he'd ever visited, where blacks and women ran businesses without the prejudice that nearly split the country in half, and even if neither of the two could vote; they still filled local government offices.  They had representatives for when they had to go outside the county limits for meetings but it was the kind of community Tony wanted to be a part of.  
  
Rhodey, a freeman, had worked for Stark Industries since he was a teenager and had taken the role of his 'valet' since he couldn't hire him as best friend.  Pepper had been sent to 'tend him' but she was so good with people and numbers that he'd quickly put her in charge of arranging his business deals while he was busy with Steve or his inventions.  
  
It was a life he hadn't known he wanted but Brookton, Steve, had become his home.  
  
"I can't believe you let me laze around this late, you're incorrigible," Steve said, recapturing his attention as he stepped out fully dressed and running his fingers through his damp hair.  
  
"My parents are coming in next week, I deserve extra time.  My mother hogs all your attention when she's here."  
  
Steve glared at him.  "She's the only person that talks to me about art, you're spoiled."  
  
"Well, yes," Tony beamed.  
  
*-*-*-*-*  
  
A lady with dark red hair, definitely not ginger, stood in the sitting room of the boarding house staring at a painting.  It favored her but Steve had only sketched it from Bucky's instructions and he wouldn't have made the connection if she hadn't been staring so intently.  
  
"Good morning, Madam, my name's Steve Rogers and I apologize for not welcoming you myself.  Your room should be ready soon," he said in greeting.  
  
She nodded politely.  "Natasha Romanov.  May I ask who painted this portrait?"  
  
"I paint in my spare time, she was a lady that my best friend described to me," he answered honestly.  He recognized the pendant from the picture hanging around her neck.  "Do you know Bucky?"  
  
"I knew a man named James once.  The last letter I received said he had settled here and I was curious to see if it was 'the promised land' he described," she said.  
  
Steve hesitated.  " _James_.  Are you with the law?"  
  
She smiled, knowingly.  "Definitely not."  
  
Oh.  He walked over to the intercom button, wired up throughout the building thanks to Tony, and buzzed the upstairs room.  "Bucky, I need you in the sitting room."  
  
" _Aw, man, what did I do this time?  Is this about the lamp_?"  Bucky's voice was muffled through the speaker but the woman's face flashed with recognition.  
  
"No, but we will be talking about the lamp later, just get down here," Steve snorted.  He turned his attention back to the woman.  "I grew up with Bucky, we served in the army together.  Before the railroad, there wasn't much here but it's nice to finally have him home.  I'm hoping his days of trouble-making are over."  
  
Her eyes flicked over him.  "Unfortunately, I know him from those trouble-making days."  
  
"You can't be worse than Barton," Steve smiled and her face lit up with surprise.  
  
"Clint is here, too?"  
  
He nodded.  "Deputy Barton starts more bar fights than he ends around here."  
  
"I took orders from Stark, Steve, surely that earns me a reprieve from whatever I've done," Bucky said as he walked into the room.  He had the duster attachment on his wooden arm and Steve smirked because he knew it would embarrass him in front of the lady.  Bucky hadn't taken the loss of his arm well considering he'd made it through the war and a dangerous lifestyle intact only to lose a limb in a mundane wagon accident.  
  
"Bucky, I think you have a visitor," he said, stepping aside.  
  
His eyes widened and he froze in place.  "Natalia?"  
  
"James."  
  
Bucky made it across the room in three strides and embraced the woman tightly.  Steve sighed and left them a moment to retrieve Bucky's 'polite company' false hand from the desk before returning.  
  
"Excuse me, Bucky, but you're getting dust on your lady friend's dress," he said.  
  
"Shit - "  
  
"Language!" he scolded but Natasha smiled.  
  
"Don't worry, Mr. Rogers, I'm well accustomed to James' ill manners."  
  
"I can't allow that kind of language around ladies in my establishments, let alone by my staff," Steve replied, frowning at Bucky.  
  
He sighed.  "Sorry, Natasha."  He removed the duster and placed the model hand on his wooden stump.  "Steve, can I have the morning off?"  
  
Steve nodded but held up a hand.  "Make sure our guest is satisfied with her accommodations before you take your time off."  
  
"We need a new lamp for the hallway," Bucky said with a crooked grin.  "Also, can I use the car?"  
  
"You have a car?" Natasha asked curiously, her gaze not leaving Bucky's prosthetic.  
  
"Steve's paramour is an inventor, he's been trying to make a better automobile since the first one went on the market," Bucky said.  
  
Bucky and Tony bickered like mortal enemies but they had a mutual respect for each other when they weren't in the same room.  
  
"The Sheriff's using it this morning, he should be back for the lunch call," Steve said.  He nodded to Natasha.  "Ms. Romanov, I hope you'll be free later to share your stories about James."  
  
"No stories, come on, Natasha, let me take you to your rooms," Bucky said, shoving the feather duster at Steve and guiding the redhead from the room with a hand on her back.  
  
It was definitely turning out to be an exciting day.  He couldn't wait to pick her brain about Bucky's 'lost years'.  
  
*-*-*-*-*  
  
"This is a surprise, Natalia, I never expected you to take me up on my offer," Bucky said, straightening the fresh flowers Steve insisted on in every room of the boarding house.  
  
She smiled.  "It's Natasha now, and you didn't exactly make an offer.  I am not a mail order bride."  
  
"Natasha, got it.  Are you wanted?" Bucky asked.  He had to ask.  They'd conned enough scoundrels over the years that they almost became as corrupt as the men they robbed.  
  
"Probably, but not under any names or hair colors that can prove my identity," she replied.  "Was I incorrect in hearing that Barton is in town?"  
  
Bucky laughed.  "Oh yeah, he's an official deputy, but wait until you find out who's Sheriff.  You are definitely among friends."  
  
"And your arm?" she asked abruptly.  "Hopefully you killed the bastard."  
  
"It was an accident, a stupid accident.  I was pinned by a wagon when I was trying to help change a wheel.  It's taken a lot to get used to it," he said, tilting the carved hand with a shrug.  
  
"I didn't know."  
  
He leaned against the wall and admired the woman that used to be his girl.  "You aren't an easy lady to find and we cut our ties."  
  
She avoided his gaze as she unpinned her curls to puddle on her shoulders.  "It wasn't safe.  I wasn't safe.  I'm tired of that life."  
  
"It can get tiring.  But if you're looking for a place to settle, you could do worse than Brookton," Bucky said.  
  
Steve had taken him in when he burned out from the smoky undergrounds of the city and he liked to think he was living a respectable life now.  With Steve and his annoying partner looking after him, he'd recovered from his injury knowing that he was no less than anyone with all their limbs.  
  
"I look forward to your tour, and to talk to your attractive employer," Natasha smirked.  
  
"Steve's spoken for," Bucky said, taking one of the flowers from the vase and holding it out to her.  
  
She took the flower and tucked it into her hair.  "I suppose I can set my sights lower.  Tell me about your life here."  
  
"You remember me talking about Steve.  He's still as close to me as a brother.  I help around the saloon and the boarding house, I live on the first floor to keep an eye on things.  He has a home a few miles out of town where I have a room as well," he said.  "I want the car so I can show you, it's a beautiful place."  
  
"If Steve is spoken for, why do you share his home?"  
  
"His boyfriend has a manor, a big ugly wall around the whole thing.  He's...eccentric to say the least, but it's for safety reasons.  Steve and I share everything, we always have.  I wouldn't let the fella fumble around on his own, not after I was away for so long."  
  
"Boyfriend.  I guess the stories about this town were true," Natasha hummed thoughtfully.  
  
From what he remembered of her, he didn't think she'd have a problem with their alternate lifestyle but he wanted her to know up front that things were different here.  "Is that going to be a problem?  Because..."  
  
She glared at him.  "There are signs up for a lady running for reelection as Mayor and the General Store is run by a black man.  If I had a problem, I wouldn't have gotten off the train.  Steve seems very nice and I'd like to get to know him."  
  
"And you can't rob his boyfriend.  We're on the right side of the law now and Stark looks after his own.  I want you to get along with my friends so...you'll consider staying," Bucky said.  
  
"Then we should go meet these friends of yours," she replied.

**Author's Note:**

> I totally want a railroad town AU. So. Bad.


End file.
